Sharks have long been one of the earth’s most maligned creatures.  Even though we’ve all heard the statistics- for example, that you’re likelier to be hit by airplane debris falling from the sky than be attacked by a shark- most of us still cringe at the theme from “Jaws.”  If the shark were a company, we’d say it had a serious marketing problem- until now, that is.  Every year, the Discovery Channel makes an effort to give sharks some much-needed PR help.  The more you learn about sharks, the more you start to realize that they actually have a few things to teach us.  In the spirit of Shark Week, here are a few ways we can all be more shark-like in our online marketing efforts:

Sharks can smell one drop of blood in a million drops of water. While extremely heightened physical senses isn’t something one can emulate, you can definitely seek out the information you need to craft a successful marketing effort.  Google your company, do a Twitter search…find out what people are saying about your business, your products, or your services.

Sharks regularly shed and replace their teeth. Don’t be afraid to let go of efforts that clearly aren’t working.  If you’ve placed affiliate ads on a site for a while and still aren’t seeing the traffic to your site that you want, maybe it’s not a good match.

The largest shark species eat the smallest prey. Competing exclusively for high-dollar sales or big-name clients isn’t always the best strategy.  Throw a wide net with email marketing blasts or email newsletters - they’re free to mail, fairly easy to create, and if done right, very effective.

Sharks have to keep moving stay alive. Sharks “breathe” by swimming forward, which allows water to pass over their gills.  Staying in motion is important- keywords and site rankings change, so your search engine optimization efforts can fade over time.  Managing an SEO campaign is a constant process- make sure you keep up to date.

Sharks cannot swim backward. Focusing on going forward is always a smart idea- if you have a clear plan of where you’re going.  Don’t forge ahead with a social media strategy unless you have a strategic plan and clear goals- once information is out there, you can’t take it back.

For more cool shark trivia, you can take the Shark Week Quiz at the Discovery Channel website.  For more tips about online marketing efforts that don’t involve sharks, take a look at our Buyer Guide.

My company provides internet marketing services for small-medium business, and when I meet a new client, I often find myself selling the value of the web itself as much as I sell the value of my company. The fact is that the internet, despite being more than 10 years old and representing hundreds of billions in revenue for millions of companies, is still “new” in the minds of many business owners. There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding online marketing, even if it’s just creating a simple website.

Of course, I’ve never had a problem convincing a business owner to market online. The technology is just too powerful. With search engine marketing and optimization, we can target potential consumers at critical stages of the buying cycle. With social marketing, we can build an audience and establish a business as an authoritative resource. With email marketing, we can take advantage of a businesses’ greatest resource - previous customers - and attain significant and immediate results.

I’ve attained a nice long list of reasons to market online during the last couple of years, but I’m always looking for more. A conversation I’ve had with a couple of business owners lately has given me another:

Reason to Market Online #374: Win More Contract Bids.

It didn’t even occur to me until I spoke to a couple of contractors, both of whom wanted to get a website up and running because they felt it would increase their chances of winning contract bids. Evidently, when contractors bid for a job, the bid review process entails more than just finding the lowest bidder. The bidder is often asked to provide references, examples of previous work, safety information, regulatory compliance, and more. What medium could provide this information better than a website?

Is someone looking for an example of a concrete foundation you’ve poured? Let’s post pictures and a copy of an inspection report. Does someone want to know what clients you’ve worked for? Let’s post a list with company general contact info. What about your safety record? Let’s create a page for your website that talks about all your safety procedures and your overall record. Is a client concerned about your compliance with laws and regulations? Let’s make sure they can find all the important disclosures on your site, and let’s also list off all of your company’s associations and accreditation’s.

The fact is, the internet provides instant and immediate access to a variety of information. By creating a useful and informative business website, you’ll increase the chances that potential customers will value your company or service higher than all the rest…and you just might win a few contract bids.

Please be sure to visit SporkMarketing.com or Resource Nation’s online marketing business center to learn more about their internet marketing services.

Email newsletters are a powerful tool that can be used to boost your marketing efforts, without draining your marketing budget. They provide a platform to discuss issues happening in your market, your customers’ potential concerns due to economic shifts and new tips, tools or products.

Offering a newsletter benefits you in multiple ways, including:

1. Helping to build your email list

2. Establishing you as an expert in your service or product arena

3. Providing a great reason to reach out to your list – keeping your company Top Of Mind

4. Enabling you to establish a strong Loyalty program

5. Driving traffic to your site

There are some pitfalls to avoid. Email marketing can be tricky because you want to reach out regularly, but you do not want to over do it. Make sure your e-newsletters are pertinent to your audience. You also want to give recipients an easy way to opt-out with every communication, so they know they do not have to make a long term commitment.

Some of these key mistakes to avoid include:

1. Sending unsolicitated emails more than once. You never want to be viewed as SPAM. When sending your e-newsletter to someone for the first time, you may want to include a line that explains where you got their address and ask them to sign-up for future e-newsletters.

2. Sending poorly designed or written newsletter. Remember, every marketing piece is a reflection of your brand, including your e-newsletter.

3. Using your newsletter simply as a brag piece or an advertisement. It should include helpful information that recipients will benefit from.

4. Be sure to include a clear “call to action”, whether a request for feedback, link providing more detailed information or additional articles, or a coupon or discount offer.

5. Always include contact information and links to your web site and email.

There are some great web-based e-marketing services, but my favorite is ConstantContact.com. Their prices are low enough for the most budget conscience business and they offer all you need to get started – including FREE online tutorials and local seminars. I have learned a lot from both their site and their in-person trainings.

If you don’t have the time yourself, use Resource Nation’s business service directory and find online marketing experts that can help.

As a small business internet marketing consultant, I’m often confronted with some common misconceptions about online marketing. These misconceptions are often based on poor advice from consultants or web designers that my clients have spoken with in the past. Sometimes these misconceptions are a result of a poor experience or a misunderstanding.

Regardless of their source, these myths often keep small business owners from achieving success marketing online. I’m here to set the record straight.

Here are some common misconceptions about marketing and promoting your small business online: (more…)

In my experience as a small business owner for eight years, I have found that there is a lot of confusion over the best ways to market a business. With the plethora of marketing strategies that are available these days between online, offline and integrated marketing, the choices certainly can make one’s head spin. Yet consistent and clear marketing is critical to success. What’s more, business owners and entrepreneurs who do not spend time to plan their marketing strategy have unknowingly set out on a course headed straight for doom.

1. Having a Well-Defined Target Market
This step is often overlooked, but it is critical to spend time defining your ideal client. Defining a target market helps you define who is most likely to buy your product or service versus any random person who can buy simply because they have a credit card. Being armed with this information will help you maximize a small marketing budget because you will only market to extremely focused and targeted audiences, creating a high ROI. Most small business owners would benefit tremendously by selecting a very narrow target market, sometimes called a micro-niche, and going after that market.

2. Marketing Message
Once you know your target market, you can develop a clear marketing message that addresses your market’s specific problems and shows that you have the business that can solve them. The goal of a marketing message is to grab the attention of your target market and make them interested in finding out more information from you. We are all inundated with marketing messages throughout the day, so creating a message that stands out and makes your target market notice you is imperative.

3. Realistic Marketing and PR Plan
A marketing and public relations plan does not have to be complicated. In fact, it should be very simple so you are more likely to follow it. If you have a simple plan that you have integrated with your calendar, you are far more likely to meet your goals. If you select five to ten ways to market your business and repeat them consistently, you will see results. Also, free PR opportunities are out there for you! Your plan should include article and press release submissions to your local business newspaper and membership organizations, at the very least.

4. Networking
Never underestimate the power of a strong web of prospects, clients, joint venture partners, affiliates and others! Who you know and how you treat them will dictate your success. It’s important to select only the best networking groups that put you in the midst of your ideal clients, potential partners or referral sources. It’s better to only be a member of one or two highly targeted networking groups that you can commit to than a dozen where nobody remembers you because you can’t consistently attend or get involved.

5. Email Marketing
Publishing a relationship-building ezine (e-newsletter) is a core marketing tool for most businesses. It’s inexpensive – and when done well, it works to build relationships with others. It’s a wonderful way to showcase your expertise and allows your clients, prospects and partners, and colleagues to get you know, like and trust you.

6. A Sales and Marketing Based Web Site
Your web site can and should be flexing its marketing and sales muscle every second of every day. A marketing and sales-based web site will capture leads and lead them directly into your marketing funnel, allowing you to start to build relationships with them.

7. Professional Marketing Collateral
Having professionally designed and printed marketing collateral is critical. People will judge you based on something as simple as the paper weight of your business card! If you’re really on the cutting edge, you can create a simple CD with an introduction to your business instead of, or in addition to a brochure. Be sure to use your marketing message, hire a graphic artist to do the design work and include a call to action in all of your materials.

8. Your Support Team
Nobody succeeds alone. As a business owner, you will likely need to locate a marketing-based “dream team” of support such as a graphic artist, a web developer, web designer, copy writer, printer, promotions company and an assistant, just to name a few. Having relationships with each of these professionals will come in handy even if you only need to call on their services a few times a year.

9. Time Mastery
It is up to each of us as business owners to tenaciously covet our time, who we spend it with and how we spend it. As a business owner, it is important to spend the vast majority of our work time on high pay-off activities. It is your right to say no to meetings, volunteer work, committee work or other engagements that do not directly support your main business goals.

10. Systems
Michael Gerber, best-selling author of The E Myth, Revisited, says, “The system is the solution.” If you ever find yourself frustrated with something related to billing, your client intake process, your voice mail, or if you spend too much time retraining your staff how to do something, you are in need of a new system. Creating a system can be very simple. It’s a matter of finding out how something is currently being done, making changes necessary to rid yourself of burdensome tasks, and writing down the new and improved process in a flow chart. Once you have it documented, you can hand the flow chart to everyone involved and provide training, even if it’s just a discussion, so the process runs smoothly.
Before you get overwhelmed with this list of “marketing must-haves,” remember tip #8. You don’t need to do it all alone. In fact, you shouldn’t even try. Delegation of things you cannot do, do not want to do, or someone else can do better is one of the best investments you can make into your business. Hiring people who will support your vision will lead you to success. It will allow you to free up your time to spend it where you need to - on leading your business.

© 2008 Meredith Liepelt, Rich Life Marketing

Meredith Liepelt, President of Rich Life Marketing, publishes Smart Marketing, a free bi-weekly ezine featuring marketing tools and resources designed to help the busy entrepreneur become known as an expert, build trust with clients and prospects and generate more income. Subscribe today at www.richlifemarketing.com.

This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.